AME Family

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AME Family

• They wont be troubled with us anymore

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African Methodist Episcopal Church
http//pathways.thinkport.org/about/about8.cfm
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AME Church
http//docsouth.unc.edu/church/images/richallens.j
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• Richard Allen founded the Bethel African
  Methodist Episcopal Church.
• It is the mother church for AME.

http//www.nynews.com/blackhistory/images/church.j
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Richard Allen

• Richard Allen started out as a lay preacher at
  St. Georges Methodist Episcopal Church in Phil.
• He became a member of the Evangelical Wesleyan
  movement because of its work against slavery.

http//www.netstate.com/states/peop/people/images/
pa_ra.jpg
http//www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1767/
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• Allen and Absolam Jones caused a lot of blacks to
  join the church.
• A balcony was constructed to accommodate the
  growth.

http//www.people.virginia.edu/aof4n/church/image
s/a_jones.jpg
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The removal

• In November of 1787 Allen, Jones and other black
  worshipers were directed toward the new balcony.
• However, they unknowingly sat in the section
  reserved for whites.
• During a prayer, a white trustee told Allen to
  move immediately to the back.
• Jones asked to finish his prayer--but was refused.

http//www.aaregistry.com/eimage/AbsolomJones.gif
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The resolution

• Jones, Allen and the other black congregants
  walked out of the church.
• They were no more plagued with us in church,
  said Allen.
• Of course this was not the only incident of
  discrimination.
• Blacks in Baltimore, Maryland and Philadelphia
  began holding separate prayer meetings.

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The Free African Society

• Founded in 1787 in Philadelphia PA this
  organization sought to provide Blacks with a
  place of worship and a place to meet and
  organize.
• It was founded by Richard Allen and Absalom
  Jones.
• It was in response to a decision by white
  members of St. Georges Methodist Episcopal
  Church to enforce racial segregation at services.

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Free African Society (cont.)

• Although it was nondenominational it had ties
  with Methodists and Quakers.
• It supported a number of programs
• abolitionist movement
• opposed black emigration and colonization
• worked to reduce the tension between Blacks and
  whites.

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Free African Society (cont.)

• During a fever epidemic in Phil. In 1793 members
  worked as nurses and other kinds of support
  people.
• After the epidemic members dissolved the
  organization because they could not decide
  whether to become a part of the Methodists or the
  Quakers.
• As a result Allen and Jones went on to found
  their own organizations.

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AME

• In 1794 the black Methodist of Philadelphia had
  raised enough money to build their own church.
• However, most of the members decided to side with
  the Episcopalians instead of the Methodists.
• They named that church St. Thomas African
  Episcopal Church.

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AME

• Allen disagreed with their decision and bought a
  blacksmith shop and converted it to a storefront
  church.
• Methodist Bishop Frances Asbury named it Bethel
  African Methodist Episcopal Church.

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AME moves on its own
http//docsouth.unc.edu/church/handy/handy.htmlp1
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• In April of 1816 the black Methodists of five
  congregations met at Bethel in Philadelphia and
  voted to organize under the name African
  Methodist Episcopal Church or AME Church.
• Richard Allen became the first bishop after
  Daniel Coker declined.

http//docsouth.unc.edu/church/handy/handy.htmlpx
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